A Little Light of Hope
by thebritishone
Summary: Marauders story! Hope Lynam had never fitted in with her family, they were pompous and snobish, she was fun loving and lively. Hope's whole life was turned upside down on the 24th of Jully 1970 when a certain Professor Albus Dumbledore paid her a visit...
1. Chapter 1

**This is set in early June 1970. Hope you enjoy it!**

A Little Light of Hope

Chapter One

Monotony and Clocks

The doorbell sounded through the spacious hallway of Feather Court. A short, stocky man in a tuxedo waddled toward the door with a glass of champagne held in his meaty hand.  
>"Good Evening Mr and Mrs Lynam. Oh and of course, your charming daughter. Hope isn't it?" the man said as he opened the large door.<br>"Yes, Hope Lynam. Thank you for inviting us Mr Derigull," Replied Mr Lynam, while he and his family were guided in to the cloakroom.  
>"Think nothing of it my dear man. The pleasure is entirely mine. Now, dinner will be served at 8 o'clock, however drinks and nibbles are on offer in the drawing room. If you'd like to follow me." Mr Derigull said pompously.<br>The short man led the family through the house slowly, pointing out every item of value. When they finally reached the drawing room, the Lynams were quickly herded in to the nearest huddled of people.  
>"It's simply marvellous to see you Edmund. This must be your wife. Pleasure to meet you at last Mrs Lynam, I'm Mr Hunderson. I'm sure Edmund has told you all about me. We were at Monmouth together," said Mr Hunderson, a tall man with little hair, "Oh and you must be little Miss Lynam. You resemble your mother so much! I see your enjoying the party!" He continued in a patronizing tone, bending down to Hope's level.<br>However, contrary to Mr Hunderson's beliefs, Hope was most certainly not enjoying the party. This was the fourth dull dinner party she had been to this week. Her parents had decided that this summer she was mature enough to accompany them at such occasions. Hope's parents had told how much of a privilege it was for her to spend the holidays dining with some of the South's wealthiest families. Hope definitely did not see this as a privilege. Every other party had been filled with meaningless conversations with obnoxious business men, unappetizing food and absolute boredom; and this one looked as if it would be no exception.  
>The Lynam's conversation with Mr Hunderson ended quite quickly, however the next person Hope's parents struck up conversation with was another an equally uninteresting friend of her fathers. As the conversation moved on to share prices, Hope's boredom reached an all time high. How could her father look so enthusiastic during a conversation on shares?<br>Hope's mother had drifted away from her husband and was speaking with Mrs Hunderson. Hope edged a little closer to the women, trying to catch some their conversation so that she could gage how dull it was and choose whether to join them accordingly.  
>Oh dear, new levels of dullness reached, thought Hope. Her mother was having a simply thrilling discussion about the affects of different soil on Begonias. Could a conversation get any duller? Hope asked herself as she edged back towards her father. Actually I think Father may have just beaten them. Why would you even think about whether fishing for salt water or fresh water salmon was more enjoyable? Let alone discuss it! Hope marvelled after catching a few sentences of the riveting debate. Maybe I should start a little competition between Mother and Father. Who can have the dullest conversation? Pondered Hope, in an attempt to ease the monotony. She drew up on her mental score board that Father was currently in the lead.<br>Soon after, the guests were called in to the dining room for the evening meal. Hope's mother had stuck with the topic of begonias whereas her farther had moved on to different makes of fishing hats, thus making himself the winner if round one.  
>Round two will commence in five, four, three, Hope counted down as she approached the dining room, two, one. Round two has begun.<br>Unfortunately, however, round two didn't ever really begin because Mr and Mrs Lynam were seated next to each other meaning they were both part of the same conversation.  
>The starter that followed was dull, as was the conversation and as was everything about this party, in Hope's opinion. She drummed her fingers on the table while she gazed at the carriage clock on the mantelpiece. The party ended at half past ten, meaning Hope still had two more hours of monotony to endure.<br>The main course arrived a few minutes later, giving Hope a brief break from her boredom. However she quickly discovered that the meal was roasted pheasant, and that, being a vegetarian, she couldn't eat it. She resumed her gazing at the clock, wishing the hands would move a little faster. They were going so infuriatingly slow!  
>As the pointless small talk continued, Hope found herself willing the clock to go faster. She was chanting, "Go faster. Go faster. Go faster," in her head and as she did so, she noticed that the hands of the clock were moving slightly faster. No, surely it was just her imagination. The clock couldn't just start speeding up with any reason to. A small voice in Hope's head said, "What if you're doing it?" but hope brushed it off as ridiculous. Hope continued to chant for reasons she didn't know. Perhaps because chanting was more interesting than staring at food she couldn't eat. Hope kept her eyes trained on the clock; it definitely did look like it was moving faster. Yes, she was quite sure a minute should last longer than that. Perhaps the battery was going flat, she reasoned. However the small voice in her head told her that it couldn't just be a coincidence that the clock had sped up just as she started telling it to do so. The clock continued to move faster. The hands were now spinning at an alarming rate. However no one except Hope was looking at the bizarre clock.<br>SMASH! A champagne glass had shattered in to a thousand sparkling pieces when the second hand had pelted in to it. The owner of the glass' mouth was hanging slightly open, his eyes wide. The black second hand was lying innocently amongst the smashed glass. Everyone's eyes were now either on the sparkling smashed glass or the frantic clock. Hope, however, was completely unaware of the stir that the clock had caused, and continued to chant in her head. Her eyes were fixed on the clock, she had completely tuned out of her surroundings.  
>Seconds later the minute and hour hands also broke free from the clock face. Each one flew in to a different direction, one hitting a plump woman squarely in the fore head. The other landing in a bald mans plate, sending carrots flying. Hope continued to chant, still oblivious to the chaos. The face of the clock then flew across the room shortly after, much like a Frisbee. It hit Mr Henderson in the jaw, leaving a angry red line. All eyes now switched to Hope, the only person at the table seemingly unaffected by the chaos. She continued to chant for a few seconds before something told her that she should stop. Upon doing so she became aware of the tension filled silence and the 20 or so eyes fixed upon her, and only her.<br>An awkward hour and thirty minutes later, Hope Lynam was to be found on the way home in her father's brand new Monte Carlo. Her face was resting on the cool glass of the window. She was thinking, thinking about the clock. The strange event hadn't left her mind for the rest of the evening, yet she was still clueless as to quite what had happened. She knew that one minute the clock was normal and the next it was behaving in a way that no clock could without interference. The only thing that had changed between these stages was that Hope had started chanting. She must have made it happen; clocks didn't just do things like that. On the other hand, how could she have possibly made that happen? She could think of no explanation, things like this only ever happened in stories.  
>Hope was becoming tired now and, curious though she was. Sleep currently seemed like a much more comfortable option, rather than further puzzlement over the clock. Whatever happened wasn't normal and she didn't understand it. With that final thought Hope drifted in to an uneasy sleep, plagued by strange clocks and flying second, hour and minute hands.<p>

**Thank you so much for reading. Please let me know what you thought. If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it. A piece of writing can always be improved! Next chapter will be up within two weeks, faster if a get a few reviews. **

**Thanks**

**TheBritishOne **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

**I'm going to explain how this story is going to work:**

**I'm going to do continuous chapters from now until Hope's first night at Hogwarts, after that I will skip a few years here and there with chapters for the important events before fifth year. It will be a continuous story from the beginning of fifth year onwards (not sure when its going to end but it will continue until way after 7****th**** year). Sorry if that made no sense…**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter Two  
><span>Forward Rolls and Magic<span>

On Saturday the 24th of July 1970, Hope Lynam could be found in the dining hall of her family home, Clevedon Manor. She was doing forward rolls continuously in a circuit around the room. This may seem like an odd way to spend a Saturday morning but, after all, Hope was no normal child. She was attempting to break her personal record for the number of forward rolls she could do without stopping. Her record was 67, and so far she was on 54. Hope could only see blurs of the dark table and the rich crimson carpet as she rolled at startling speed. She had now reached her 'zone', where she physically couldn't keep going but did anyway out of pure determination. Hope had a bit of an obsession with setting herself extreme tasks like this just to prove that she could read for 12 hours without a break or last for a week without eating anything but carrots and cucumber (which is actually a lot harder than it sounds, as Hope found out).  
>Yes! She had done it she had beaten her record and was now on 72 rolls, and counting. She planned to keep going until 100, so she would have a challenge next time she tried to break the record.<br>As she neared the 100 mark, she heard voices in the hall. She sped herself up so that she could reach her goal before any interruptions. 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99,  
>"Hope! Come to the hallway, at once!" Hopes mother's calls interrupted her celebration as she reached her goal. Not that they were very large celebrations, as Hope felt as though her spine had been snapped over and over. Trust her mother to pick now of all times to call for her. Slowly and reluctantly Hope pulled herself of the ground. She grabbed on to the table quickly as the world spun around her. She shakily poured herself a glass if water from the jug on the dark table, before taken shaky steps towards the door.<br>It took her quite a while to reach the imposing front door, but by the time she stood beside her mother, Hope's vision had cleared.  
>"Hope, this man wishes to speak to you." Mrs Lynam said briskly, clearly feeling uncomfortable. Hope nodded Slightly and turned her eyes towards the doorway. The man who stood there was definitely not what Hope had expected. She had never seen anyone quite like him. He was either completely mad or extremely eccentric. He was tall and thin with a particularly sumptuous beard. The snowy beard was long enough for him to tuck it in to his emerald belt. However, it was nothing compared to his hair which was also snowy white, falling in waves down the older mans back.<br>"Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and wizardry." he introduced, holding his thin hand out. Hope shook it hesitantly.  
>"P-pleased to meet you Professor," Hope started, and completely at a loss as to what was going on, "I'm Hope Lynam."<br>"I have rather a lot of explaining to do, would it be alright if I came in?" Dumbledore asked politely. Hope looked to her mother for an answer to the professor's question. When her mother didn't give any indication, Hope opened the door wider and gestured for Professor Dumbledore to come in. Hope quite liked the eccentric man; she hadn't ever met anybody quite like him. He seemed polite enough, even though Hope was completely befuddled by what he had said about a school. She was sure he had said he was the headmaster of a school of witchcraft and wizardry, but no, that couldn't be right.  
>Once the three of them had sat down in the drawing room, Dumbledore began to speak:" Right, I shall start at the very begging: Hope you are a witch."<p>

**A/N:**

**Sorry about the excessive shortness of that, I did have Dumbledore explaining everything to do with magic but it was an extremely long speech so I cut it. I also cut the trip to Diagon Alley…**

**The more reviews I receive, the faster I will write chapter 3 (HOGWARTS EXPRESS!) simply because they inspire me!**

**(Oh and Ella Bella Bee, I wonder if you can guess where I got the idea for the forwards rolls from?)**

**Thank you so so so so (x8) much for reading :D**

**Anna Lee **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:**

**Ron's hair is red, Ravenclaws wear blue, I don't own Harry potter so please don't sue!**

"All things must change to something new, to something strange."  
><strong>Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<strong>**  
><strong>  
>Chapter Three<br>the scarlet Steam train  
><span>  
>After three painful weeks of being treated as if she was diseased, hope was grateful when September the first came. She had woken at half past four with anticipation bubbling in her stomach. As she checked, checked and rechecked her trunk, the sun was slowly rising above the Mendip hills. Her parents had agreed to take Hope to the station but made it clear that if they hadn't been visiting Mr Dilley and his wife, Hope would have had to make her own way. They felt that having a witch in the family was a disgrace.<br>At ten forty-five Hope was walking toward the division between platforms nine and ten. She was ready to walk through it just as Dumbledore had told her. She felt she could trust Dumbledore so without a hint of hesitation she strode meaningfully through. The scene on the other side was so very different that hope just stood and stared for a minute. Seconds before she had been in a grubby, grey station filled with commuters in pin striped suits; now she was stood on a thriving platform filled with hoots from owls, brightly coloured cloaks, chattering voices and the sounds being emitted by the deep scarlet steam train.

Hope pulled herself together quickly. She pushed her trolley forwards and quickly discovered it had a wonky wheel. Realizing that she needed to get on the train quickly, Hope ignored this fact completely. As she continued she increased her speed which, upon reflection, probably wasn't the best of ideas bearing in mind how little control Hope had over the trolley. She almost made it to the train door. She was meters away when she decided that she didn't much like the look if the greasy looking boy boarding the train, and turned so that she could get on at a different door. The trolley spun around a little more than she had expected, dragging her with it. The fast moving Tilley came to an abrupt halt when it crashed into another trolley. The impact flung Hopes small frame over the handle, she somersaulted quite spectacularly and landed on top of another trunk. Her arm was crushed beneath her and her mane if curls were in disarray (not that they had been neat to start with). Hope raised her head slowly, ignoring the piercing pain in her crushed arm. That could wait, she thought. Upon raising her large brown eyes, she saw a boy around her age with silvery eyes and dark, wavy hair.  
>"Sorry about that mister, I lost control of my trolley. I'm Hope Lynam, How do you do?" The boy simply stared at the girl allayed across his trunk for a moment before breaking in to an infectious grin.<br>"I'm Sirius, pleasure to meet you hope. Do you need some help?" The boy said kindly. Hope nodded meekly, the pain in her arm taking its toll. The boy seemed nice and polite but the thing that Hope really liked about him was his air of mischief. Sirius moved around to the side of his trunk and offered a hand. Sirius helped her down gently, eyeing her arm with worry. Hope followed his gaze and saw that her crushed arm was bent a little the wrong way.  
>"It looks like you've broken your arm; shall I go get some help?" Sirius asked.<br>"Oh no, we might not get good seats if we do that. I'll find somebody to look at it on the train. Goodbye!" Hope replied brightly pushing her trolley toward the train door with her good arm. Sirius was left staring at where she had been stood looking rather shocked. When she reached the door Hope realized that she couldn't possibly get her trunk on to the train with a broken arm. She spotted two gangly red heads and moved over to them. She tapped the closer one on the shoulder lightly, he turned around. "Hello, I'm hope, it's my first year at Hogwarts and I was wondering if you could help me with my trunk. I'd do it myself but I've just broken my arm so..." hope trailed off. The other redhead looked round at this point and hope saw that the boys were twins.  
>"We're second years, this is Gideon," one of them said jerking his thumb towards his brother," And I'm Fabian." Fabian said before hauling hopes trunk on to the train. Hope followed him along the train until they reached an empty compartment. Fabian put Hopes trunk in to the overhead storage space. Hope sat down on one of the plush benches, Fabians twin then entered.<br>"I think this is your satchel Hope, you left it on your trolley." Gideon said, handing hope her bag, "Do you want us to get someone to look at your arm?"  
>"Oh no, you probably want to go and find your friends. Thank you for your help Fabian and Gideon." Hope said waving Gideon's offer off.<br>Hope had been sat by herself for a few minutes when the door slid open. The boy called Sirius popped his head around the door and asked, "Can I sit with you? I can't find a seat."  
>"Yep, would you like a mint imperial?" Hope offered happily.<br>"A mint what?" Sirius said looking baffled.  
>"A mint imperial, haven't you ever heard of them?" hope replied. Sirius shook his head.<br>"Oh, are you from a wizard family?" Hope asked, remembering something Dumbledore had said.  
>"Yes, are you a muggleborn?" Sirius said taking a mint from hope.<br>"Yep, at least I think that's what Dumbledore said." hope replied popping a mint in to her mouth. Sirius suddenly looked guilty and sad. He stared at the floor. Hope asked him what was wrong and he replied "it's just that my parents wouldn't like me talking to a muggleborn. They are obsessed with blood purity. It doesn't matter though, I'm not like them. I hate my parents." Sirius finished defiantly.  
>" I hate my parents too, they disowned me when they found out I was a witch." Hope said brightly, no at all bothered that her parents saw her as a freak.<p>

Sirius and Hope chatted fir a few minutes before the door opened again and another boy came bounding in. "I'm James potter, can I sit with you?" he introduced with an easy grin. Hope immediately liked hum and moved up to make room for him.  
>The tree if them got on well and chatted freely. It turned out that James was from a wizarding family as well. Not long after, someone knocked quietly on the door. The three looked up to see an anxious boy with sandy hair. James got up and led him in.<br>"I'm Remus Lupin, I was wondering if I could sit with you?" the boy asked timidly.  
>"Course you can Remus. I'm James Potter." James said and then looked at Hope. Catching on Hope introduced herself as Hope Lynam and looked to Sirius for him to tell the new boy his name. "I'm Sirius, Sirius Orion" he said, moving up to give Remus a seat.<br>"Is that your surname name Sirius? I've never heard if anybody called Orion before." James asked inquisitively.  
>"No that's my middle name." Sirius answered quietly.<br>"What's your surname then?" James pressed. Sirius mumbled something incomprehensible whilst looking in to his hands.  
>"What was that?" James questioned.<br>"Black." Sirius whispered. The compartment immediately filled with tension. Hope was very confused but said nothing; she was too preoccupied by the pain in her arm. Remus' and James' smiles slipped and their expressions turned stony. Upon seeing this Sirius continued, "But don't worry, I'm not like the rest of my family. I don't care about all that blood purity stuff." James and Remus still looked unconvinced. Hopes arm was throbbing by this time and she was feeling slightly nauseous.  
>"Guys do any of you know someone who can look at my arm. I broke it." Hope said a grimace on her face.<br>"Yes, when she catapulted herself on to my trolley." Sirius quipped with a grin.  
>"I can heal it for you. Hold it out please." Remus said quietly, drawing his wand from his bag. Hope put out her arm and Remus moved his wand in a complicated way, muttering strange words quietly. Hope, having only just discovered the magical world, stared with wide eyes as her arm glowed a light blue. The pain subsided and her arm straightened. A soft "Wow!" escaped Hope's lips. Her arm was perfect again, she was amazed. She didn't know a single spell; James and Sirius also seemed impressed.<br>"Where did you learn that? I can't even levitate a pen!" James said in awe. Remus looked uncomfortable and looked at his hands when he said "My dad taught me, I'm ...accident prone so it's useful."  
>Before Remus's friends could quiz him further, a distraction appeared in the form of a bustling woman pushing a food trolley. "Anything from the trolley dears?" she said happily.<p>

The steam train came to a smooth halt in the small Hogsmeade station. From her compartment, Hope could see stars appearing in the darkening sky. A clear voice echoed throughout the train: "We have arrived at Hogsmeade station. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately." Hope, Sirius, James and Remus stepped of the train and in to the warm September air. A booming voice was calling "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over 'ere!". Hope and her companions walked towards the voice through the busy crowd of students, until they could see it was coming from a gigantic man. The man had hands the size of dustbin lids and feet the size of baby dolphins. He had small, black beetle like eyes and a forest of unruly black hair. Despite his wild appearance, his face was lit with kindness. "Righ' then, that seems to be ev'ryone. Follow me then." The huge man boomed. She started walking up a steep and narrow path. The first years had to jog slightly to keep up with the giants huge strides. "I'm Rubeus Hagrid by the way. Keeper of groun's and keys at 'ogwarts." The man introduced, turning his shaggy head to face the children.

They had been walking for about 5 minutes when hagrid boomed "Yeh'll get yer firs' sight of 'ogwarts in a sec, just round the bend 'ere."The first years rounded the corner quickly, eager to catch their first glimpse of the magical school. A soft wow escaped Hopes lips as she looked up in awe. In the semi-darkness she could see a large shining lake with a tall castle behind it, covered in towers and turrets. Soft orange light was coming from each of the many windows. It was very impressive.

The party approached the large lake quickly. "No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called before climbing in to his own. Hope walked towards one on the small boats and hopped in. She was closely followed by James and Sirius. "Is it all right if I come with you?" Remus asked hesitantly. "Of course mate! Hop in!" James replied cheerily.

"One. Two. Three!" Hagrid shouted from his boat. On the count of three all the small rowing boats began to propel themselves forward. Hope smiled at this display of breath taking magic and saw the tired looking boy called Remus had fallen asleep. Probably a good thing, Hope thought, he looked exhausted. She then noticed Sirius leaning dangerously over the edge of the boat. Hope knew that if he leant any more the boat would capsize, so in a swift movement she grabbed him by the collar of his robes and pulled him back. Sirius rubbed his neck, frowning. "What was that for?" he asked indignantly, "I was only Looking." "You would have capsized the boat if you had leant any further!" Hope answered. "Sorry, I thought I saw a tentacle. Anyway, were only going to get to arrive by boats once so we may as well make the most of it!" Sirius said brightly. Hope was just trying to work out what exactly Sirius meant by "we may as well make the most of it", when he grabbed hers and James' arms. Hope gave Sirius a confused look before he winked at her and nodded towards the water. Hope saw his knees bend and felt his grip on her hand tighten. The next thing hope knew she was extremely cold. Her body was in shock for a few moments before she realised…she was underwater. Everything suddenly seemed a lot slower; she could feel her hair flowing around her head as she rose agonisingly slowly. She was running out of air so she kicked her feet to propel herself upwards. She opened her eyes a little bit to see her clothes billowing out around her as she rose. Her head broke the surface and she opened her eyes properly. She looked across to her right to see an equally soaked Sirius. He was grinning like a maniac. James rose a second later with a look of shock on his face that, despite her chattering teeth, made hope break out in to an infectious grin. The three of them shared a look and burst out laughing.

They were still laughing when Hagrid made his way over to them in his boat. He heaved each them back in to their boat, looking despairingly at their antics. "You three are gonna be trouble, I can tell already…" Hagrid mumbled as his boat propelled him back to the front of the group. All eyes were on Sirius, James and Hope as they shivered in their boat, the other first years looking confused as to why anyone would jump in to freezing water willing. Hope looked across the boat to see that Remus had woken up, probably awoken by the huge splash they had made. "Can I just ask why you did that?" Remus questioned. Hope was about to reply that she hadn't had much choice in the matter when Sirius started speaking. "Because, my dear Remus, it was FUN!" he said with great enthusiasm, practically shouting the word fun. Remus simply shook his head at Sirius with a smile on his face. "Here take my clack Hope, your shivering like crazy." Remus said shrugging off his cloak and handing it to hope. Hope discarded her own sopping cloak and gratefully took Remus's warm dry one. They're boat had started moving again now and they were fast approaching what looked the cliff on which Hogwarts stood. As they got closer to the cliff, hope could see that they were heading towards what looked like a cave.

When the boats glided in to the cave, Hope saw that it was a sort of underground harbour. They small rowing boats came to a halt in a long line against the rocks. The first years began to clamber on to the wet rocks, slipping and sliding as they went. "Over 'ere firs years!" Hagrid called out, motioning with a giant arm towards a few steps that lead up to a large oak door. Remus, James, Sirius and Hope made there way to the door without event, although the latter three were still dripping from their little adventure in to the lake…

Hope didn't really concentrate throughout the speech a stern looking gave the first years. She had zoned out after "My name is Professor McGonagall" and was still having a hushed conversation with a portrait when her fellow students began to move. She had been a little startled at first when the wizened old man in the painting had whispered "Pssst!" in her ear but ,after reminding herself that odd things like this were to be expected when one found oneself in a school for wizards, she had had quite an enjoyable conversation with the man. It had turned out that he had once been a teacher at Hogwarts and his name was Professor Whittaker. Hope hurriedly promised that's he would return to speak with him as soon as she found the time, and ran off to catch up with the other first years. She skidded to a halt between James and Remus. "Where did you go?" James whispered. "I was speaking to a portrait… What are we doing now? I wasn't listening to the professor." Hope replied. James shrugged "Dunno, me and Sirius were playing rock paper scissors…" he explained before turning back to Sirius and resuming there game. Hop turned to Remus, "Were you listening?" she asked. Remus nodded "She said we were going to be sorted in to houses in the great hall soon. We will be either in Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. She said they were named after the four founders of the school. She also said that while we were at Hogwarts our houses were like our families and that our achievements would be rewarded with house point and misbehaviour punished with loss of points. That was basically it." Remus Finished. Hope whispered "Thanks" to Remus. She was just about to ask how they would be sorted when McGonagall led them through a door and in to a large hall.

It was the most impressive place Hope had ever been. The room was gigantic and when hope looked up she saw that the room opened up to the sky rather than having a ceiling. When she looked back down she noticed that there were four long tables filled with older students, each one had a banner above it and Hope supposed that there was a table for each house. All the students eyes were on the first years, making hope a little nervous. There was a battered on a stool at the front of the hall. Quite abruptly the brim of the hat opened, looking like some kind of strange mouth. The hat then began to sing, much to Hopes surprise.

_"A thousand years or more ago,  
>When I was newly sewn,<br>There lived four wizards of renown,  
>Whose name are still well-known:<br>Bold Gryffindor from wild moor,  
>Fair Ravenclaw from glen,<br>Sweet Hufflepuff from valley broad,  
>Shrewd Slytherin from fen.<br>They share a wish, a hope, a dream,  
>They hatched a daring plan,<br>To educate young sorcerers,  
>Thus Hogwarts school began.<br>Now each of these four founders  
>Formed their own house, for each<br>Did value different virtues,  
>In the ones they had to teach.<br>By Gryffindor, the bravest were  
>Prized far beyond the rest;<br>For Ravenclaw, the cleverest  
>Would always be the best;<br>For Hufflepuff, hard workers were  
>Most worthy of admission;<br>And power-hungry Slytherin  
>Loved those of great ambition.<br>While still alive they did divide  
>Their favourites from the throng,<br>Yet how to pick the worthy ones  
>When they were dead and gone?<br>'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,  
>He whipped me off his head<br>The founders put some brains in me  
>So I could choose instead!<br>Now slip me snug around your ears,  
>I've never yet been wrong,<br>I'll have a look inside your mind  
>And tell where you belong!"<em> She heard Professor McGonagall clear her throat and decided that she had better listen to what she was saying this time. "When I call your name you will walk up to the stool and place the sorting hat on your head," she indicated towards a very battered hat behind her, "The hat will sort you and you will then join your house at the appropriate table" Professor McGonagall then pointed out which tables were which. She then pulled a long scroll from her robes and began to read names. Sirius' name was called first. Hope watched him walk up to the stool; his walk had a slight swagger to it as always, giving of an air of confidence. His face, however, told a different story, his previously bright, mischievous eyes were laced with anxiety and worry although in the very centre of the opal orbs was a slight glimmer of hope, almost overshadowed by the apprehension. His expression was one of dread and trepidation. He sat on the stool, his movements still boastful. McGonagall placed the hat on his head. Sirius continued to look worried for a moment before an infectious grin broke out on his feature. All his previous gloom dashed away in an instant. "GRYFFINDOR!" the hat screamed. The table furthest to the left erupted in cheers and whistled, a stark contrast to the table furthest to the right where expression of shock and anger were clear on the pupils faces. One girl in particular looked absolutely livid, her hands clenched in to fists. On closer inspection, Hope saw that the girl's heavy lidded eyes were the same opal colour to Sirius' except hers had no trace of hope or mischief, hope could only see anger and hate in her eyes.

Hope tuned out of the names for a while, knowing her name would not be for a while yet. She was gazing up at the sky above her when a sharp voice called "Lynam, Hope", snapping hopes attention back to the sorting. It took hope a moment to register what had just been said. When she realized it was her turn she rushed over to the stool. McGonagall place the hat over her eyes and suddenly everything went black, all hope could see was the inside of the hat as it had fallen over her eyes. "Ahh, now let me see hmmm…" said a strange silky voice. Hope was a little alarmed by this; she was not entirely sure where it was coming from. "Oh don't be scared my dear, I'm the sorting hat. I can see in to your mind and I'm about to sort you in to your house." The voice said. "Well, could you please hurry up Mr. Hat; I don't really like having a hat over my eyes." Hope thought irritably. She didn't like not being able to see, it made her feel vulnerable. "Okay, okay. Calm yourself dear. I just need to have a little look around…Ahh yes I can see you're rather impish aren't you. Not a fan of following the crowd either I see, bit of a rebel eh? The professors are going to have a lot of trouble from you…Oh you're very fierce about things you believe in aren't you? And my goodness! I haven't seen bravery like that for a long time! I can tell you have the brains and talent of a Ravenclaw, but no with valour like that it simply must be….GRYFFINDOR!" Hope was glad to remove the hat from her head, the brightly lit hall contrasting to the blackness inside the hat. Hope walked briskly to the Gryffindor table in high spirits. She was glad that Sirius was in her house, she was sure shed become good friends with him. She sat down next to Sirius just as the clapping was dying down. A couple of older students shook her hand jovially from across the table. Hope then returned her attention back to the sorting. Remus's name was called next and he sat on the stool looking anxious, gripping the sides of the stool with his hands. The hat had only been on his head for a few seconds when it proclaimed "GRYFFINDOR!" loudly. Remus half jogged to the table and sat down on the other side of Sirius to hope. He looked relieved to be in a house with people he knew. Hop hastily gave him thumbs up. She then felt something hit the back of her head. Upon turning to look around she saw Gideon and Fabian, the twins she had met earlier, grinning at her. She looked around for whatever had hit her head and soon saw a scrunched up piece of paper next to her on the bench. She opened it up and saw a hastily scribbled note:

_Hey Hope,_

_Glad you made Gryffindor. Just ask us if you need any help, Hogwart's resident princes of practical jokes are always on hand! Feast should be soon, after the sorting, it's always fabulous but one word of warning: don't eat the boiled potatoes, we've jinxed them…_

_Anyway well done!_

_Gid and Fab_

_(A.K.A: Hogwart's resident Princes of Practical Jokes!)_

Hope smiled at the twins, amused by their note. She then returned her attention to the sorting; they were up to the Ps now. James should be soon, she thought, I'd better watch. "Pettigrew, peter" was called next. He was a chubby boy with small, watery eyes. The hat took a very long time indeed sorting Peter Pettigrew – well over 5 minutes. Hope and Sirius were on their 3rd games of noughts and crosses on the back of hopes note from the twins, when the hat shouted "SLYTHERIN!" out the hall. Peter didn't look very happy about this and hope didn't blame him, the Slytherin table didn't look very inviting to say the least…

"Potter, James" was called next. Hope watched as he sauntered up to the stool, completely and utterly at ease. He seemed entirely confident that he would be in his house of choice and sure enough the hat decided on Gryffindor extremely quickly, it had barely brushed James's unruly black hair. James walked over to the Gryffindor table, a confident smile on his face. He sat down next to Hope, sandwiching her tightly between him and Sirius. The sorting ended quite soon after. Hope then noticed that the man who had come to her house, Professor Dumbledore, had stood up to speak. Hope remembered him saying he was the headmaster. "To our new students, welcome. To our old hands, welcome back. There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Dig in!" he said loudly, beaming at his students with a twinkle in his blue eyes. As soon as he finished speaking, the once empty golden plates that were spread across the house tables all gave a small "pop!" and suddenly, they were all laden with delicious food. Hope was rather shocked by the sudden appearance of the food, but stopped marvelling at the amazing magic due to her rumbling stomach. The food really did look scrumptious, so without further hesitation Hope began to pile her plate with all manor of mouth watering foods. Once she was satisfied that she had a wide enough selection, she dug in. She placed a steaming mouthful of chicken and mushroom pie and immediately closed her eyes with bliss. It was absolutely gorgeous, the best pie she had ever tasted. At that moment nothing could have dampened hopes mood, she was in a breath taking magical castle eating simply scrumptious food with people who she fitted in with on either side of her. She was finally home

****

The prefect pointed out the girls and boys dormitories, then telling them that their trunks were already waiting for them. Hope said hasty good nights to Remus James and Sirius, eager to get to bed. Her stomach was full of the delicious feast, making her want nothing more than to collapse in to bed. She made her way up the staircase until she found the door that read "First Years". She entered the room and immediately grinned. T was a circular room containing 6 four poster beds. The entire room was decorated in scarlet and gold, Gryffindor's house colours. Hope was searching for her pyjamas in her trunk when the door opened and 5 girls walked in. One had plaited blonde hair, another hair flaming red hair, the third had wavy black locks, another had a light brown jaw-length bob and the fifth one had very straight blonde hair that reached just above her bottom. "Hello, I'm guessing you're my dorm mates. I'm Hope Lynam" Hope said genially. "I'm Marlene McKinnon." Said the girl with wavy black hair. "I'm Lilly Evans." Said the red head. "I'm Dorcas Meadows." Said the girl with plaits. "My name is Mary McDonald." Introduced the girl with a bob. "And I'm Alice Prewett." Finished the girl with the extremely long blonde hair. The girls all made their way over their own trunks and began to unpack. Once they were all in their pyjamas they each got into bed. Hope was just about to drift of when someone spoke. "So girls, did any of you see any nice looking boys today?" a voice said, Hope thought it was Marlene. A giggle came from one of the beds. "I saw one boy one the train. He looked about third year. He had dark hair and was nicely tanned, he looked really sporty to." Another girl said. Hope sighed; she hated talking about things like this. When her cousins came to visit all they ever wanted to do was talk about boys, dresses and hair. Hope had no interest in such things and the frilly pink dresses her mother and cousins tried to get her to wear made her feel ill.

She had a feeling that she wasn't really going to like her room mates.

**A/N:**

**Wow! That took a lot of writing; it just went on and on! Sorry if it was too long… I also apologise for the last few bits, they weren't very good… I'm not entirely happy with this chapter but I wanted to get it out of the way so I can get on to the actual story :D Next chapter will be proper story, in fifth year. Thank you ever so much for reading that mammoth chapter!**

**Any advice, suggestions, requests or feedback is greatly appreciated. Also if you want a little part in the story, just leave me a few details bout yourself and ill try to fit you in!**

**Thanks to everyone who is reading, especially EllaBellaBee who was been waiting for this chapter for a LONG time!**

**Oh and one more thing I can't decide if I should do the rest of the story in third person (like this chapter) or first person (from Hope's POV). Your opinions would be great!**

**Thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much, I'm sending chocolate brownie cake to you all (I have a very good recipe for chocolate brownie cake….. if anyone wants it just say!) **

**The British One**

**Oh and p.s sorry about any mistakes…**


	4. Chapter 35 I'm very sorry

**A/N:**

**I AM SORRY! This isn't a proper update. This is a huge apology and a sneak preview of the proper chapter.**

**I promised that I'd update today, but as I've written more and more of this chapter it has accumulated in to a bigger and bigger chapter. It won't be done for a little while yet. I'm sorry, it might be up this time next week but I'm not making any promises.**

**Just to put it out there, do you think that the proper story (starting in this chapter in Hope's 6****th**** year at Hogwarts) should be in the first person and be quite chatty (a bit like 'Oh Mushroom!' for those of you that have read it, if you haven't read it you really should!) with all of Hope's bizarre little thoughts or be more formal and poetic like the past few chapters have been? At the moment I'm very much swaying towards first person, you'll see a bit of it in this preview (by the way this extract might not actually be in the next chapter exactly, I may alter it slightly or change it to third person).**

**Enough rambling! I'M VERY VERY SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY! Here's your little sneak preview:**

"Checkmate!" I shouted for all the common room to hear, with a triumphant grin on my face. Remus' face was stony, unimpressed at being beaten at his favourite game. I began my victory lap, dancing wildly in a large loop around to common room, singing at the top of my voice "Swishtail has won and spoiled Moony's fun! Remus is defeated, the champion's unseated! I won I won I've spoilt Moony's fun!"To a bizarre mix or nursery rhyme tunes. Yes, I am well aware that my rhyming skills leave rather a lot to be desired; but who cares I'm not aiming to be the next poet laureate...

After my rather childish outburst I sat back down opposite Moony. I was now receiving some quite worried looks from my fellow gryffs, but I don't really care to be perfectly honest. Remus was still looking stony, possibly even more so after my victory song. "Cheer up Moony, you can't win every time!" I said in an attempt to stop his glaring. It didn't work. In fact he now looked even more peeved. He was looking pretty angry by this point so I hastily shuffled away, breaking into a run when I saw that his murderous glare was following me across the common room. I breathed a sigh of relief when I reached the Sixth year dormitory, knowing that Remus probably wouldn't come and find me up here. I say probably because I've never beaten him at chess before so I'm not entirely sure just how angry he might be. For all I know he might sneak up some way (using his abnormal intelligence to get past the staircase/slide) and smother me with my pillow in my sleep. I shuddered at the thought; I'd always thought that being smothered by a pillow would be one of the worst ways to die. Being betrayed by your life long comfy friend would really suck, not to mention how un-dramatic it would be. I mean being suffocated by a mound of squidgy loveliness? No, a far bloodier death is more my style.

**A/N:**

**There you go! See you soon and DON'T FORGET TO TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE FIRST PERSON/ THIRD PERSON DILEMA!**

**Au revoir mes amis! **

**(Reviews are always appreciated by the way, more for future proper chapters than this one but still...)**


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